


If You Walk Away

by Vashti (tvashti)



Series: Where You Lead [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Christian Character, F/M, Family, Gen Work, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Parent-Child Relationship, Single Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-15
Updated: 2013-11-15
Packaged: 2018-01-01 14:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1045244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvashti/pseuds/Vashti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Still stunned, Tony hardly knows what offensive question to ask first. So he does it all unintentionally instead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If You Walk Away

**Author's Note:**

> Written during NaNoWriMo 2013. Mistakes may be more egregious than usual. Please feel free to point them out. Story title from "I Will Follow" by U2.

When the conversation between Pepper and her daughter naturally turned to creating things that would help her with actual fieldwork—not just saving her personal belongings from the watery deep—Tony jumped back into the conversation with both feet. By the time lunch came around, a meat-eater’s dream, he and Sophie had their heads bent over a Starkpad surrounded by several napkin’s worth of notes and doodles.

“So like this?” Tony said, turning the pad toward Pepper’s daughter. “This closer to what you were thinking of?”

Sophie, who had been kneeling up in the bench seat, pulled the Starkpad closer and leaned back, practically sitting in her mother’s lap as she did so. “I…think it just might be.” Looking up, she flashed Tony a brilliant smile. “This is fantastic, Mr. Stark! I’m scared to ask what the price of even one of these would be, but it would make checking out the Hudson’s ever changing riverbed so much more doable. And practical.”

“Except for that little price tag issue,” Pepper murmured as Sophie handed her the touchpad.

“Lucky for us hopes and dreams are free, Mom.”

Tony cleared his throat. “Um, hello? Did you both forget who I am?”

Eyes wide, Sophie turned to her mother. “I thought _you_ knew who he was.”

Pepper chuckled and Tony chuffed.

“Look, Mr. Stark—“

“And enough with the ‘Mr. Stark’.”

Sophie pulled a face, but the food came then, interrupting what she would have said. When the waiter left with a promise of a draft for Tony, Sophie said, “Then what do you want me to call you? Uncle Tony? _Dad?_ ”

Pepper inhaled sharply, coloring. “Sophie!”

“He knows I’m joking, Mom. Don’t you Mr. Stark.”

“I hope you are, kid. Doesn’t matter, though, because Uncle Tony’s out, too.”

“Why?”

“It makes me sound like a mob enforcer.”

Both women giggled. “What?” he demanded.

Pepper and Sophie shared a speaking look. “Well,” Pepper said, speaking for both of them, “you do have the goatee for it.” Sophie dissolved into further giggles, leaning heavily against her mother.

“What’s wrong with just ‘Tony’?”

Reigning in her giggles, Sophie shook her head. “You’re my mom’s…” She looked between them. “You’re her guy. And even if you weren’t, you’re kind of her boss. Sort of. I mean, you own the company even if she does run it. It’s not polite.”

Tony frowned. “More of this being-a-Christian-makes-me-politer-than-thou crap?”

Sophie visibly flinched, her smile wavering only a little. “More like my inner Iowa coming out.” Reaching her for her fork, she half-turned to her mother. “What’d you get?”

But Pepper was frowning at Tony. “It’s not like Sof was always a snide terrible child before she became a…you know.” She waved her free hand in a vague manner. “That’s why it was so troubling when she was. My sweet girl would be replaced with…with…”

“With Grandma,” Sophie muttered, viciously stabbing her food. She looked up at her mother. “I’m sorry.”

Pepper cupped her chin, caressing Sophie’s cheek with her thumb. “You don’t always have to apologize. The past is behind us and you’re different now.”

“I still feel bad, though. You’re my mom. My favorite mom. It’s what I always tell everyone.”

Humming, Pepper gave her cheek one last affectionate swipe then turned to her food. Sophie seemed to cling even closer.

Pointing at them with his fork, Tony said, “I’d just like to put it out there that you two are really weird and I no longer feel any guilt for thinking you had a thing going on.”

Smiling, Pepper rolled her eyes as Sophie chuckled, her eyes flicking between Tony, her mother and her food.

-*-*-

Tony and Sophie silently watched as Pepper left the table for the restroom. “So your mom does use the facilities.”

Sophie turned, eyebrows raised. “Huh?”

“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen your mom go to the restroom before.”

Sophie smiled and shook her head as she reached for her glass of water. Tony mirrored the action, but didn’t drink. Instead he waited until she was to say, “So, grandparents were total d—uh, that is…”

Giggling, Sophie nearly choked on her water as Tony searched for a word that was both offensive and not crude. She set her water down hard and snatched up her napkin. After a moment she said, “Pretty much whatever you’re thinking is an accurate statement of how my grandparents are. At least towards Mom. Both sets, I should add, though the paternal old people got better faster.”

“And the maternal?”

Sophie coughed into her napkin again. “Well, Mom took their grandbaby from them before they could completely brainwash me, so it took them a while.”

“They must have been happy with the whole Christian thing.”

“Not when they realized that it totally foiled the whole brainwashing thing.” Shrugging, she said, “They got over it, I guess.”

Tony’s eyebrows shot up. “You guess?”

Sophie shrugged again, blushing. “I’ve found that the best way to love them is from afar. This way they can be overly and ridiculously critical of Mom, and I can pretend I don’t know how hypocritical they are.” 

Tony leaned forward on his elbows, chin cupped in his upturned palms. “Do tell.” 

Instead of retreating, Sophie matched his pose. For a moment, Tony was surprised until he remembered: tactile. “Just your usual double-standard,” she said. “Everyone really expected her and Dad to get married, but then when she got pregnant with me and Dad tucked tail and ran, it suddenly became her fault that he was a loser coward to afraid to take responsibility for himself.” 

Despite the friendly pose, Sophie’s face was flushed, and Tony didn’t think it had anything to do with the hot plates of food they were hovering over. “Hey, kid, I’m sorry.” 

She flashed him a smile. “What for? It’s not like you did it. And I gave up on him a long time ago.” 

“Sure you did, kid,” Tony dropped his arms to briefly cup one of her hands in his. His hand was wide enough to brush red-brown hair off her cheek. When he pulled it away, he politely dropped a fork under the table so she could have a moment to wipe the tears beginning to form in her eyes. 

-*-*- 

Riding back to Pepper’s apartment with Sophie passed out in the backseat, Tony figured it was as good a time as any to ask his likely inappropriate questions. If only he could think of any. 

“So you never did marry,” was the best he could do on still-shocked-out-of-his-skull short notice. 

Pepper shook her head. “Nope.” 

“Dated, I’m sure.” 

“A few times.” 

“And none of them…” 

Shrugging, Pepper said, “It’s different when you have a child, Tony. Or it should be. He couldn’t just be good for me, he had to be good for Sof, too.” 

“Yeah, I can—I can definitely see that. Who, by the way, you have obviously done an awesome job raising.” 

Pepper snorted. “You’ve only known my daughter for, what, not even six hours?” 

Tony glanced at her. “Pep. Please. You’ve done a pretty good job of raising _me_ , and you haven’t had nearly as much time to work on me. Plus, you know, there are some flaws in the craftsmanship.” 

“Tony…” 

“So obviously, given the raw materials and optimum time, you must have done an awesome job with your actual kid.” 

“Well, I had quite a bit of help but…but thank you. That means…” She took a deep breath. “That means a lot, actually.” He couldn’t see it, but Tony heard her soft smile. 

-*-*- 

“She likes you, you know,” Pepper said as she pressed the elevator button. “Threats and admonitions about my safety notwithstanding.” 

Grunting softly, Tony adjusted his grip on the more or less sleeping-on-her-feet Sophie. “Yeah, what makes you think that?” 

She came to stand beside them. “I know I said my daughter’s tactile but she’s actually very particular.” 

Tony’s eyebrows climbed. “I am disinclined to agree, Ms. Potts.” 

“No, really.” But Pepper was chuckling softly, remembering how he had walked into _Rolfe’s_ with her daughter attached to his arm like a happy leech. Composing herself she said, “Sof used to have a bad habit of getting lost in stores by hiding in the clothing racks. And there was an incident when she was younger. To this day I’m not sure if this couple was trying to help her find her family or if they were going to steal her. I mean, we were in Iowa after all. But I totally flipped out when I saw them walking away with her.” 

“I’m…sorry?” 

A smile flickered over Pepper’s face. “I may have been too hard on Sof at the time. She was still a little girl. Not even six yet, I think. And her father was…not always good at showing affection, or receiving it.” 

Pepper smoothed a stray hair from her daughter’s forehead. “Sof…Sophie, honey, we’re going upstairs now.” 

“Mom?” Coming awake slowly, Sophie ran her hand down Tony’s supporting arm and jerked away. “Oh, Carlo…” she murmured, blinking rapidly, but still obviously disoriented as she clumsily tried to move away from the arm holding her up. 

“No, sweetheart, it’s Tony?” 

“You have a new doorman?” her voice was plaintive as she struggled with wakefulness. 

Pepper smiled. “Mr. Stark.” 

“ _Oh.”_ And she relaxed. “He’s nice.” 

Pepper gave him a look as if to say, _See, I told you so._

“Shorter than I…than… Smells good, though.” 

Tony frowned as Pepper laughed quietly. 

“Very barrel-y.” 

Pepper laughed again as the elevator doors opened. 

-*-*- 

“Where do you want this thing, ma’am?” 

Pepper frowned, but Tony could see the way she was fighting not to smile. Even Sophie, still more or less sleeping on her feet, chuffed before trying to turn over in his arms. Shaking her head, Pepper said, “She was a squirmy baby, too. You’re lucky she hasn’t tried to nuzzle you.” 

“Ew!” 

Pepper laughed. 

Regaining his composure, Tony struck a more refined pose. “I’m a one-woman nuzzlee.” 

Pepper’s eyebrows climbed. “Is that so, Mr. Stark? Since when.” 

“You know when, Pep.” 

She smiled. “You can put Sophie in my room. It’s closer and I’m sure she’s heavy.” 

“Uh, I don’t think this one is totally knocked out and if anyone knows better than to call a woman ‘heavy’ when she’s in earshot…” He raised a hand, pointing at himself. 

“Over there, Mr. Stark,” Pepper said, rolling her eyes. 

“Yes, ma’am. Although this isn’t the way I was hoping to see your bedroom, with your kid in tow. I’m surprised you don’t think such things are inappropriate for young eyes.” 

Pepper didn’t even bother to respond, going to the kitchen instead. Her longsuffering smile was enough for Tony, though. “I’m telling the truth though, kid, this is _not_ how I expected to end up in your Mom’s bedroom.” 

Sophie whimpered in protest. 

“Oh, yeah, that’s right. You had that happy fiction thing going on. Yeah, sorry to spoil that for you, kid. Well, not today apparently but—“ 

Sophie whimpered again, vaguely batting at Tony’s arms. Or maybe she was trying to hit him. It was hard to tell. Soon, though, Tony had her jacket and shoes off, and Sophie under the light coverlet he found at the foot of the bed. 

Crouched by the side of the bed, Tony said, “Gotta admit, I don’t have much experience leaving pretty young twenty-somethings in bed, but you make it easy, kid.” 

She chuffed, eyes cracking open. “Gross.” 

Tony grinned. “I hear I’m pretty hot, actually.” 

“Very gross.” 

He chuckled, rising to leave. 

Sophie grabbed his pant-leg in a surprisingly firm grip. Brows knitting together, Tony crouched by her side again. “What's up?” 

“Middle name’s not Helene. Double-first, no hyphen. Mom was…” A wide yawn split her face. “Sorry.” 

Waving a hand in front of his nose, Tony agreed. 

“Mom was being nice.” 

“I know.

Sophie’s brow wrinkled and she struggled to sit up. “Huh?” 

“I know a lot about you, Sophie Helene Kylie Potts.” Tony gently maneuvered her back onto the mattress. 

“How?” 

“AI. Now get some rest, kid, or your mom’ll hurt me.” When it looked like she wasn’t going to listen, he said, “Ask me tomorrow and I’ll give you the full monty but, y’know, without the monty. Then your mom’d really kill me.” 

Nodding, Sophie rubbed her forehead. In a moment she was fully asleep, turning over to face away from the light coming through the open bedroom door. 

-*-*-

"So," Tony said as he sat down at the kitchen island. He promptly stood up again to move several flower vases aside. It was either that or stand. "So that was a really massive bouquet." 

Pepper laughed. "It really was." 

"I thought it might smooth things over with you more quickly if I had flowers." 

"And the more flowers you had the smoother things would go." 

"Something like that." 

Smiling softly, Pepper leaned her elbows on the kitchen island with her chin cupped in her palms, just as Tony and Sophie had done hours earlier. "Why Mr. Stark, don’t tell me you’re actually nervous around a beautiful woman." 

"So you admit to knowing that you’re absolutely gorgeous." 

Pepper’s smile grew mischievous. She nibbled at her lower lip. "Well..." 

"How in the world did Kyle not see this? How did he let you go?" Pepper blushed, but Tony plowed on. "But, you know, one good thing came out of it?" 

"Sophie." 

"No! I mean, yeah sure. Kids, woo!" 

Pepper chuckled. 

"But you could have been Pepper Heinitz! You could have been named after a ketchup bottle, Pep. Imagine what that would have done to poor Sophie’s self--" 

"How...how did you know Kyle’s last name?" 

Tony’s eyes widened. "Um..." 

"Did you have JARVIS look him up?" Pepper was suddenly standing, tall, straight and ticked off. 

"Well..." 

"Tony!" 

"What! What’s wrong with scoping out the competition?" 

Frustrated, she spun around and went back to her coffee making. 

Tony, watching her for a moment, eventually said, "Uh, I think I’ve had enough coffee. Remember the hair in strange places." 

Pepper spun around again, her ponytail whipping from one side of her neck to the other. "You don’t get to decide, Tony." 

"What I drink?" 

"What information you can or can’t have about me!" 

"That was supposed to be obvious?" 

Pepper growled. 

Shaking his head, Tony raked his hands through his hair. "Look, Pep, I wasn’t...trying to pry. Okay, yes, maybe I was a little. But, in those, what, three minutes when I found out you had a kid I realized I know _nothing_ about you. And you’ve been my PA for, what, six years? Seven years? _Eight years?_

"Wait, if you’ve been my assistant for eight years and Sophie’s twenty-two, how could she have been on the East Coast when you started working for me?" 

There was a beat. Then: "I lied." 

"You what?" 

"I lied." She threw her hands up. "I lied!" 

"But Sof said--" 

"You do not get to call her Sof right now." 

Tony narrowed his eyes, but started again, "Sophie said you didn’t get this place until her second year of college. Does somebody need to go to confessional with Mommy dearest?" 

"Sophie, however, is a compulsive truth-teller. We lived near _Rolfe’s_ until after she got into college." 

"Excuse me if I’m wrong, but I pay you an exorbitant salary--" 

"Which I deserve." 

"—which you richly deserve. But still...five years--" 

"Four years." 

"Four years?" 

Pepper tugged on the end of her ponytail. "Sophie’s birthday is late in the year and she’s a rather bright girl. She started college a year younger than her peers." 

"Oh." 

Pepper shrugged. 

"So, what was I ranting about?" Tony rubbed at the arc reactor. Funny how it had _not_ been bothering him all day. 

"You wanted to know where all the money went." 

"Yeah. That. So--" 

"Bills, Tony. Do you know how hard it is to get a degree on your own when you have a small child who constantly needs things. Because that’s what children do, Tony. They need things all the time. Do you have any idea how _expensive_ it is? The degree? The kid? Rent. Clothes—my God, Tony, you have no idea how fast kids go through clothes. And food! They’re walking stomachs until they hit twenty or something." 

Pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes, Pepper said, "Even with my richly deserved exorbitant salary, it still took me four years to pay off my student debt, my credit card debt and have enough saved up to buy this condo." 

"But you always looked really hot." 

A surprised snort of laughter escaped her. Pepper pulled her hands from her eyes. "Yes, even with careful shopping at the better Goodwill stores, my discretionary spending slowed me down quite a bit." 

They stared at each other for a long time, the only sounds between them the electric hum of the central air and a distant ticking clock. Pepper had never actually turned on the coffee machine. 

"I’m sorry, Pep." 

She shook her head. "You weren’t the one who abandoned me at seventeen with a baby on the way. You weren’t the one not living up to your responsibilities. Playboy though you were, every two weeks I got my paycheck without a penny missing. That’s better than Kyle ever managed." 

"Did he ever--" 

"No." 

"Did you ever--" 

Her head-shake cut him off the second time. "I probably should have. There were times when we really, really needed the money. Thank God it was a pre-cell phones for a while when she was little. I didn’t want to go through it, though, the ugly court battles, weird custody rules. We’d grown up in the same town all our lives. _He_ was the one who left first. If he wanted to find me, hell if he wants to find me now, neither of our parents have moved. They know where I live. I didn’t..." She stopped, bringing her fingers to her forehead as she composed herself. 

"If he didn’t love me anymore that was...that was terrible. But if he suddenly decided he didn’t love Sophie anymore, I didn’t know how I could ever make it up to her. So I never hid. I never did anything to put walls between him and his daughter. She spent as much time with his parents as she did with mine. But he never really seemed to care." 

"I’m sorry, Pep." 

Her smile wan, Pepper still reached out to take Tony’s hand. "Don’t be. I got our amazing daughter all to myself. He’s the one that missed out." 

Smile melting away entirely, she pulled back from Tony, though she didn’t release his hand. "But the next time you want to know something about me or my daughter or my past, you ask me first Tony. Okay." 

"Okay." 

"You’ve got it?" 

He crossed his heart with his other hand. "Got it." 

Pepper sighed. "Okay." 

-*-*- 

Though it was still light out, despite the hour, Pepper’s room was cool and dim. The central air explained the coolness. Her drawn shades explained the dark. 

Pepper glided in, stepping out of her shoes with quiet, practiced motions. She pulled her ponytail holder out of her hair, sighing as the pressure was released. She left the rest of her clothes on. There were still things to do even if she was, ostensibly, on leave following the incident with Justin Hammer. Life was rarely simple or peaceful in the world of Stark Industries. Becoming its CEO had done nothing at all to diminish that. 

Still, she had a few minutes, maybe even half an hour, to do simply this: lie beside her sleeping daughter and watch her breathe. When Sophie had been an infant, she’d done it for hours, amazed at the life she’d helped to create. When Sophie had been a toddler, she could only manage a few exhausted minutes to marvel that her rambunctious, dynamic, outgoing, adventurous daughter actually had an off-switch. By the time Sophie was old enough to feel self-conscious about her mother doing such things, Pepper had been working at SI. For a year or two, they were like ships passing in the night, their schedules blending for brief half-hour periods on any given day, including weekends. 

Then Sophie had gone off to college. On the East Coast. For the first time in years, Pepper slept completely alone. Though she felt silly about it in the mornings, she cried herself to sleep the first week Sophie was gone, plunged back into a lonely despair she hadn’t felt since she’d realized that Kyle wasn’t going to step up and take responsibility for the life they’d made. Another person who should have stayed, who should have loved her— _me and Sophie against the world—_ had walked away. 

But morning pep talks in the mirror, a busy schedule, frequent phone calls with Sof (giddy, anxious, fearful, hopeful, excited and sometimes teary-eyed phone calls) and sheer time blunted the edges of her loneliness until she was more or less herself again. It helped that taking care of Tony was almost as much of a full-time job as being a parent, if more frustrating. 

Pepper remembered the first time Sophie had come home to the new place, the new "apartment", though it was really a condo, how excited she’d been to finally have her own room—and how she’d crawled in with Pepper sometime around midnight complaining that she couldn’t sleep. 

Pepper knew that Sophie would spend most of the week in her own bed, that this brief moment in the soft light wouldn’t last. She treasured it all the more. 

Reaching across the distance, she leaned in close as she gently carded her daughter’s hair away from her face. "My sweet girl." 

Kissing Sophie’s forehead, Pepper closed her eyes and slept.

[in]Fin[ite]

**Author's Note:**

> That's it folks. There are thoughts in my head, but they are much vaguer than these stories were-more like scenes. Anywho, I hope you've enjoyed this. It grew into something much bigger than I originally foresaw.


End file.
